Remember last spring’s wacky weather? Iowa apple growers would probably rather not. Warm weather early in the spring that prompted trees to bud was followed by frost and a summer drought that devastated many orchards. Proof of the losses came in this report just issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The statistics show the […]
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Category: Environment
Iowa’s Endangered Species
Friend and fellow gardener, Orlan Love, put together a list of Endangered Species in Iowa, with the status of the stately Northern Monkshood, pink-lipped Indiana bat, pretty Piping Plover and more. If you missed it in today’s Gazette, find it here.
Making (mystery) tracks in Cedar Rapids,...
Squirrels and rabbits are common visitors in my neighborhood in northeast Cedar Rapids, along with the occasional raccoon or opossum. But these tracks through the snow earlier this week surprised me. They seemed quite deep, so I wondered if it could have been a heavier animal, such as a deer. In more than 15 years […]